Reggie Theus Lacks Hang Time

The mercurial attitude of the Maloofs also contributed to Reggie Theus being fired.  The Maloofs made the decision to bring Theus in before last season.  They had a whim to bring in an ex-King who would have instant name recognition with fans instead of allowing the basketball people they hired to make the basketball decisions. 

They used their gut when they made the decision to fire Rick Adelman and to hire the fire Eric Musselman.  You would think that the last three coaching decisions that they made would have made them realize that they aren’t the greatest basketball minds in the building, but it hasn’t slowed them down.

When the story first broke, the first reaction was that the Kings were a rudderless ship that really didn’t have a direction or plan in order to succeed.  When you look deeper, you realize that they are more like a ship with four rudders trying to steer the ship in ten different directions. 

This team doesn’t have a unified goal because the Maloofs don’t seem to trust Geoff Petrie; the coach can never trust the Maloofs, and the players have no motivation to work hard for a lame duck coach with no actual authority.  This usually stems from ownership trying to take over too much of the game-to-game control of a team.

Great business people know that entrusting others and delegating tasks to them is the best way to run a business.  What owners like the Maloofs don’t seem to realize is that they don’t have to be the only ones to make a decision for it to reflect positively on them. 

More often than not a great decision made by their employee still reflects positively on them because ultimately it was their foresight to delegate that power which led to it.  That isn’t to say that the Maloofs should be completely hands off because they paid a lot of money for the Kings, and they have every right to voice their opinions and be involved in the decision making processes.

On a related note, name the owner of the San Antonio Spurs without looking it up.  Most people couldn’t pick Peter Holt out of a line-up unless they’re real NBA-philes or in the market for Caterpillar construction equipment.  The reason: he trusts the decision makers he has put in position to succeed and knows they are more qualified than he is when it comes to running the product on the court. 

He doesn’t grandstand or worry about his image as a playboy or team owner.  Holt cares as much about his team’s winning and being seen accepting the Larry O’Brien trophy as the Maloofs care about producing reality shows and being seen on the Las Vegas strip.

So this now leaves the Kings with a head coaching spot to fill this off-season, and the next topic of discussion will be who the Kings decide to bring on board.  There is no way of knowing exactly who will be available or who the Kings will choose when it is all said and done. 

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